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The Blue Jays over the course of the past 21 games have quietly become the hottest team in baseball with a roster that is seemingly less talented than last year's group that was expected to contend for a World Series, but fell flat on its face. What are the differences within the clubhouse from the last two seasons, '12-'13, a pair of unmitigated disasters to this year's clearly united front?

It's never that easy to explain. I've been in major-league clubhouses for 42 years, each season since 1973, and leadership in baseball is not a concept you can see or touch. On the other hand, lack of leadership is much easier to identify and can lead to teams and team goals becoming elusive and non-existent, to underachieving, to looking for answers as individuals as problems mount. I'm not saying that the horsehide epiphany that has transformed this Jays team a year later can be defined in definite terms, but it's worth a discussion. Players have opinions, but are often reluctant to discuss.

Let's begin the discussion going back to 2012, a season that was a disaster at 73-89. The appointed leadership that season started with manager, John Farrell, who already had checked out and was certain he was going to manage the Red Sox, his dream job in 2013. Injuries to starting pitchers had scuttled the season early on and by August, it had become all about the individuals.

In addition to Farrell playing out the string, the man they brought in as a veteran presence, a leader for the young Latins, infielder Omar Vizquel was on his own farewell tour. His entourage was a Venezuelan camera crew that was forever at his side shooting the Omar Vizquel story.

He had little respect for Farrell and the future Hall-of-Famer's influence on players seemed negative towards the manager and organization. When Yunel Escobar got himself in trouble with the eye-black issue and the homophobic slur, where were the clubhouse leaders? They let him take the field with the offesnsive words stuck to his face. The clubhouse situation by that time already deteriorated.

Farrell sat quietly at Yankee Stadium for Escobar's press conference, likely because he knew it would not be his concern a year later. As for Vizquel, instead of counselling his younger Latin-American teammate, he suggested that we, as outsiders, didn't understand the harmless nature of the slur, that clubhouse issues were the fault of the manager and his coaches.

The manager fired back suggesting it was difficult for Vizquel to comment because he was always the last player to report each day and the first to leave. Jose Bautista, the incumbent leader, was injured in July and left the club to rehab at home, re-joining late, after all the damage was done.

Farrell then left for Boston. After that came the blockbuster trades and payroll bump, bringing the Jays to $120 million worth of MLB talent. So much was made of the new guys, the imports, of R.A. Dickey and Jose Reyes, of Josh Johnson and Melky Cabrera that the existing leadership inside the Jays clubhouse may have quietly deferred to the newcomers. Dickey was to lead the pitchers. Reyes was to lead the position players. Bautista and others faded, blending into the background.

When Reyes was injured and Dickey stumbled and disappointed, it seemed nobody wanted to step up and attempt to lead what had become a sinking ship, a failed experiment in building a contender. When the season started, after a fractured spring training, with the WBC and all its hype and distractions, many of these new guys had barely met.

I recall at the conclusion of the spring, when Ricky Romero was devastated by being told he was staying at minor-league camp, Buehrle was asked if he had been able to mentor Romero at all. He said no, because their schedules had not matched up. That's not a dig at Buehrle, just an example.

When the Jays called a team meeting at Yankee Stadium during an embarrassing early-season slump, it was reserve infielder Mark DeRosa who was given credit, with Bautista at his side. That made no sense. This should be Bautista's team. But the '13 team was already in free fall and who wants to step up and take late credit for abject failure? Bautista last year was more distant than he'd been.

Then around mid-summer, catcher J.P. Arencibia suggested he was in reality a born leader and what separated him from Buster Posey in terms of leadership was just those two pesky World Series rings the Giants catcher had won in 2010-12. Of course, it was shortly after that that Arencibia turned his attention to a campaign against negative media -- a busted poser. Now Arencibia's gone, ostracized to AAA-Round Rock by the Rangers, who signed him after he had been non-tendered.

It has changed this year. The leadership situation has quietly worked itself out. It has evolved rather than being claimed. Bautista is no longer fighting with umpires and his own anger. He leads. Edwin Encarnacion has stepped up with both his bat and his glove in May and is leading with his performance. In hindsight, even that clubhouse campaign to recruit Ervin Santana and pass the hat for his salary, willing to defer certain sums in current contracts can be seen as a form of leadership.

There's more. Closer Casey Janssen is back and a once struggling bullpen has its quiet leader. Even Adam Lind has become a sublime veteran presence, with a wry, underappreciated sense of humour. It's not leadership from John Gibbons and his coaches. This current Jays leadership is among the players who seem to have worked things out internally after two failed and distracting seasons.

BLUE JAYS CORNER

THE WEEK THAT WAS (3-0 vs. Red Sox; 3-0 vs. A's; 29-22 overall)

On Thursday, after three earlier failed attempts in the season, the Jays finally figured out how to put an opposing team away in a three-game series, sweeping the Red Sox out of Fenway. The Jays had previously failed to sweep after winning the first two games against Houston, Cleveland and Texas. In fact, they liked it so much when they did it that they did it again, sweeping the first-place A's at the Rogers Centre. That's six wins in a row, nine of 10 and the Jays are 16-5 in the last 21 games.

Red Sox complete winless homestand at 0-6 second time in team history:

How are they doing it? The Jays are swinging hot bats, running the bases aggressively, playing good defence and getting solid pitching. That's an easy recipe for a win streak.

In the series opener, Edwin Encarnacion slammed two home runs – one off starter Felix Doubront and one off reliever Edward Mujica. Additional homers were by Melky Cabrera and Erik Kratz. LH J.A. Happ ran his record to 3-1, with the help of five relievers over the final four innings, topped off by a save for Casey Janssen. LH Rob Rasmussen made his major-league debut. He said before the game he had dreamed about his debut being against David Ortiz and that's how it turned out. After going 2-0 on Big Papi, Rasmussen came back and created a hard groundball out to Encarnacion at first base. His parents had flown in from California for the series. They celebrated afterwards.

In Game 2 of the series, Encarnacion again hammered two homers, both off of starter Clay Buchholz in a 6-4 win. That gave him five homers in his last three games and gave him four multi-homer games in the month of May – 11 HR total. RH Drew Hutchison (3-3) was the starter and winner, going 5.2 innings, allowing one run. Once again, manager John Gibbons went to five relievers, although this time Esmil Rogers made it exciting, yielding three runs. Janssen picked up the save.

With a chance to sweep a series of at least three games in one locale for the first time in '14, LH Mark Buehrle moved his record to 8-1, working seven innings. Allowing two runs on seven hits with no walks and five strikeouts. The eight wins tied his personal high for victories before the end of May. He was 8-3 in 2002. He talked about the elapsed time between eight-win accomplishments.

“I got older, fatter, slower, I don’t know,” Buehrle said. “I don’t feel like I’m throwing any different. I’m not doing stuff different than I have back in the day. I just feel like I’m hitting spots, and maybe Navarro’s throwing the right fingers down better than my previous catchers have. I don’t know. I wish I could tell you guys my secret to success but there’s nothing there.”

Just to show they were not playing favourites, the Jays roughed up Sox ace LH Jon Lester early, with back-to-back homers in the first by Melky Cabrera and Jose Bautista. The Jays added five in the second keyed by a two-run single by Jose Reyes. RH Dustin McGowan pitched two perfect in relief.

Jays meet the challenge with a weekend sweep of first-place A's:

When McGowan was moved back to the bullpen, with his consent, the identity of the new fifth starter was left in limbo until Thursday in Boston when the club announced that Australian RH Liam Hendriks would start on Friday against the A's. The 25-year-old was a strike-throwing machine at AAA-Buffalo and did a good job with the same in his Jays' debut, his 29th career start in the majors.

The Jays raced out to a 3-0 lead and then held on as the A's with the best record in the American League, narrowed it to 3-2 with a run in the eighth before Janssen nailed it down with his sixth save in his seventh game since returning to the active roster. 2B Steve Tolleson homered against his former team, his first of the year. It was against Scott Kazmir scoring Brett Lawrie ahead of him.

In Game 2 of the series, RH R.A. Dickey ended his personal curse of the seventh inning, working 8.1 effective innings as the Jays won 5-2. The knuckleballer had pitched into the seventh inning eight times, but had never reached the eighth. This time, he came up two outs short of a complete game as Brett Cecil recorded his third save. Former Jays scrap-heap pitcher Jesse Chavez was the loser for the A's, allowing a solo homer to Lawrie. Cabrera had two hits and two RBIs.

On Sunday, the Jays completed their second series sweep in a row and the second of the year, with Happ pitching a remarkable seven innings for his fourth win. A's LH Drew Pomeranz had yet to allow a run in his four starts, after coming out of the pen, until Encarnacion crushed a home run to the back of the first deck in left field. It was Edwin's 14th homer of the season and his 12th in May. The Jays have 38 homers in May. Janssen came on for his seventh save in seven attempts.

Reyes continued his resurgence to health with three stolen bases in a game for the first time since '08. Gibbons was ejected after his challenge was rejected even though replays on the scoreboard seemed to show that the Jays had a point on Jose Bautista beating a force play at second base. There is no use arguing with umps on the field, since it was not their decision. Maybe Skype to New York?

THE CONVERSATION – BLUE JAYS FIRST BASE COACH TIM LEIPER

In his first season at the major-league level as a coach, 47-year-old California native Tim Leiper had an opportunity to coach third base at historic Fenway Park as Luis Rivera was away for the greaduation of his son. The Star caught up with Leiper to discuss that third-base experience, plus his contributions to Team Canada working with Greg Hamilton and his feelings of pride for his adopted country. Leiper is a baseball lifer and talks about his past life in Ottawa and his future aspirations.

RICHARD GRIFFIN:
Let's begin with the experience of coaching third base in the majors for the first time and it being at Fenway Park.

TIM LEIPER:
That was kind of interesting, because I've always heard it's not the easiest park in the world. Coaching third is always harder, because you have to get into a rhythm for it. I've done it my whole career (as a minor-league manager). Actually, this is the first time I ever coached first base. I think at first I was a little worried about the quirkiness of (Fenway Park) and stuff like that, but we came out early and I was able to shag a lot of flyballs during our early hitting and see how the field played and everything. It wasn't as daunting as I thought it would be. I felt pretty relaxed out there. But, it's also very cool to get a chance to do that here. A lot of it is that the third base coaching box is about five steps from the dugout. That helps (laughs).

RG
: That's it, but is it all about positioning, especially here, and pre-game seeing balls off the wall and trying to project that forward into game conditions.

TL
: That was the biggest thing for me, because I wanted to know how the ball was going to play off the wall. I really wanted to know how close it is. The one thing, I always heard the corner was very tough because the ball gets lost over there. But the way I coach third, I always hug the line anyway, so if I got down far enough I could still always see the ball in the left field corner. For me the only thing I was really worried about coming in was the ball in left-centre field, because the wall is so short. It says it's 379 (feet) out there, but there's no way it's 379. If there was going to be any kind of uneasiness it was going to be on a ball in the left-centre field gap.

RG
: Going around the major leagues are there some parks that it's the first time you're setting foot in them.

TL
: Well actually the majority of them. I've been in them before, but to be on the field and to be in it. For me, noticing where the information is on ther scoreboard that you need, those are the things, the little things I'm finding out. But it's nice to get in new places, because they're all a little bit different.

RG
: Do you feel like a fan, for instance, when you come out the tunnel (at Fenway) and look at the field coming out of that clubhouse.

TL
: I came out here for the first day and I walked around, just because it's a beautiful place and it's historic, all the history here. But it's funny. When I get on the field, I feel like it's just a baseball game. The surroundings are cool and you kind of feed off the environment and feed off the fans and stuff, but at the end of the day it really still is a game. The winning and losing is the only thing that matters once you walk out here.

RG
: I have a list here of all the towns that you've managed in and coached in. Of all those minor-league cities, when you were managing or coaching did you feel the time would inevitably come when you would have a major-league job. Or when you moved into the front office for two or three years, did you think that was where you were headed.

TL
: Even though I was in the front office, I really wasn't in the front office. I was really still on the field. I didn't want to go in the office, so I stayed on the field. But, yeah, it's funny. I don't really think about it when the season starts. You think about it more when the season's over, you try to negotiate your next contract. I always thought I would be here. I didn't realize maybe it would take so long, but the one thing I realize going through all that is that if you have a job to do and you have six months, you do it the best you can. That's what you do. You have to own that. You can't complain about what other people do, or other parts of your job. You have direct responsibilities and you've got to take care of it. I've always done that. I've never worried about it and I figured it would kind of pay off. Luckily I had a relationship with (John Gibbons), I had a relationship with Tony LaCava, I had a relationship with Alex (Anthopoulos) and the opportunity opened up. It seems like good things happen at the right time and it definitely has been great. I love it here and it's been a good time for me as well.

RG
: I'm just assuming that your relationship with Greg Hamilton and with Team Canada started when you were managing in Ottawa.

TL
: Actually, it did. Actually I lived there in the off-season and we had worked together at one of the indoor facilities there. I knew about the national program, but I never really thought I coule help out. I made a phone call about four years after I knew him. I asked him, 'Hey, if you ever need help doing the program.' He said 'I never asked you because I didn't know if you were interested.' I always didn't think I could be eligible because I didn't come from there. That's kind of how it got started, because the year was 2003, the year of the Olympic qualifier for Athens. It was the right conversation at the right time. I was tickled to death. I wanted to do international baseball my whole life and I'm glad Greg gave me the opportunity to do it.

RG
: Ernie Whitt has always talked about how he feels like a Canadian at those times. Do you have that same feeling when you're in there with all these kids for the country.

TL
: Absolutely. You throw the jersey on and absolutely I do. You go out and you hear the anthems, even now, it's nice being with the Blue Jays because you hear the anthems every day. Yeah, it's special, it's proud. I think the Canadian baseball player, we're kind of an underdog. You have to really love the game because of the weather and you don't have the accessibility to baseball like you do in the United States. We play as the underdog. We play with a chip on our shoulder. It's the greatest group of people I've ever been involved with. It's literally in baseball the best thing I've ever done.

RG
: Were you impressed, because there's an underestimation of the quality of Canadian players, buit you look around the minors and the majors and even in U.S. colleges now, there's a large influx of Canadian players. Were you impressed with the quality of not just the guys on those national teams, but of the entire program.

TL
: You know when I first noticed how good it was was probably when I first moved to Ottawa, I talked to Greg and he told me about the national program and I'm looking at the team. It had Justin Morneau, who was at A-ball at the time and I had had Jason Bay and he didn't even play. I looked at all the hitters, Todd Betts, Ryan Radmanovich, these guys it's like, wow, these guys can really play. They're good hitters, they're good players, their pitching always seemed to be good, so that's when I kind of got interested in it. It's funny having seen Morneau when he was young. Having Joey Votto when he was in A-ball. Russ Martin went with us to Panama and he never played, then two years later he's catching in the big leagues every day. Yeah, it's very impressive. They get better so much quicker. It seems like they hit a point and they just get better and they stay really, really good. I'm impressed every time we go out, because we've tirned the team over a few times in my 11-12 years there and it seems every time we go out we continue to do well and we keep putting out players. Most of it goes to Greg. You think about the young Canadian player who's on the Junior National Team probably plays 50-60 professional baseball games before he's ever draft-eligible. That experience you just can't duplicate anywhere.

RG
: It's a couple of years away, but are you going to make sure you can participate in the next WBC. It's a different job now in the majors, but...

TL
: Yeah, I would think that I'd be part of the crew that goes there. I mean obviously we want to have a better outcome next time around. We played well. It's been exciting. Obviously we haven't got out of the first round, but we've added excitement to every single tournament we've played. It's been great. Yeah, hopefully I'll be a part of it and even in the off-season if stuff comes up and I'm available to do it, I hope they ask. I would definitely do it.

RG
: From your perspective, can you describe that Mexican fracas (at the WBC in Phoenix).

TL
: (laughs) Yeah, I was the first line of defence, so I saw it all happen. I was coaching third and Mexico was in the third base dugout. I saw Luis Cruz, who had played for me before, start doing what he did (points to ribs) and I knew when it happened that I was the first guy there. I just tried to grab as many jerseys as I could. I was in front and I knew there was a lot of bad stuff going on behind me. I really didn't know what had happened until we actually went in the clubhouse and saw it, but at the end of it, what did Ernie say, you can't intimidate us Canadians, or whatever. You don't want to see it happen but it happened and I thought we handled it pretty well.

RG
: Denis Boucher took one for the team.

TL
: Yeah, the water bottle in the head. That wasn't good.

RG
: So, you've got background and experience -- I said front office, you said on the field. Now coaching and all of the minor-league experience. What's the next step for you personally. Is it managing at this level. Is it front office somewhere or do you just take it as it goes.

TL
: I'll just take it as it goes. Obviously, I want to be a part of a World Series team and I'd like to manage some day, but again, right now, I've got my job to make sure the outfielders play well. I'm coaching first and I think all that stuff will come if I do this stuff well. I feel blessed, because I literally have done everything in the game. My experience has been so rewarding, because I've been a rookie ball coach, a rookie ball manager, a hitting coach, an infield instructor, a front office guy. I've done winter ball, won a Caribbean World Series, won Dominican Championships, Venezuela. There's nothing I haven't done, so I just want to keep adding to that and I hope when it's all said and done you're on a World Series champion. To me that would be the greatest accomplishment ever.

RG
: So when you stand in front of the dugout and the two anthems are played, you still have a special feeling when the Canadian one is played.

TL
: Absolutely. Every single time. So many great memories of my life come from the national program. The best one being winning the gold medal at the Pan-Am Games in 2011. It's special, very special and every time you hear it there's always good memories. Standing at the Olympics and hearing it. So it's a wonderful experience.

THE LIST

We've been talking about the Blue Jays leading the major leagues in home runs and especially their big guys in the lineup, with Jose Bautista jumping out in April and then Edwin Encarnacion heating up in May and slamming 12 in the month. But the powerr has come from more sources. Today's list is the six Blue Jays currently amomng the Top 19 home run hitters in the AL:

PLAYER, HR, AL RANK

Edwin Encarnacion, 14, 3rd

Jose Bautista, 12, T5th

Colby Rasmus, 9, T12th

Melky Cabrera, 8, T15th

Brett Lawrie, 8, T15th

Juan Francisco, 8, T15th

BLUE JAYS DOWN ON THE FARM

The Jays' four farm system teams, along with the major-league club, have combined at the five levels already in action, for a record of 130-115, 15 games above .500.

AA-NEW HAMPSHIRE (17-32)
... The Fisher Cats beat Portland 1-0 on Sunday. LH Richard Bleier was the winner in relief (5IP; 3H; 0R; 1BB; 2SO; 3.55 ERA). RH Matt Newman was 2-for-2 with a double and the only run of the game.

A-DUNEDIN (35-15)
... The Jays lost to Lakeland 6-0 on Sunday. RH Jesse Hernandez (3-3) was the starter and loser (4.1 IP; 13H; 6R; 5ER; 0BB; 1SO; 4.22 ERA). Canadian RF Marcus Knecht was 1-for3 and is batting .228. Canadian CF Dalton Pompey did not play. The Mississauga native is batting .331 with five homers and 19 steals.

A-LANSING (21-22)
... The Lugnuts lost to South Bend 7-6 on Sunday. RH Jeremy Gabryszwski started with no decision (5IP; 9H; 5R; 5ER; 1BB; 2SO; 4.11 ERA). RH Yeyfry del Rosario was the loser in relief, allowing two runs and losing the lead in the seventh. C Jorge Saez was 2-for-3 with three runs scored and is batting .302. The 23-year-old Miami native was a 32nd round pick in 2012.

MLB POWER RANKINGS
(as of May 26)

TEAM, LAST WEEK

1-Detroit Tigers 1

2-San Francisco Giants 3

3-Oakland A’s 2

4-Los Angeles Angels 5

5-Toronto Blue Jays 16

6-St. Louis Cardinals 12

7-Atlanta Braves 7‘

8-Milwaukee Brewers 4

9-New York Yankees 9

10-Colorado Rockies 6

11-Los Angeles Dodgers 8

12-Baltimore Orioles 10

13-Washington Nationals 11

14-Texas Rangers 18

15-Miami Marlins 14

16-Kansas City Royals 13

17-Seattle Mariners 20

18-San Diego Padres 21

19-Tampa Bay Rays 26

20-Minnesota Twins 15

21-Chicago White Sox 22

22-Cleveland Indians 23

23-Cincinnati Reds 24

24-Philadelphia Phillies 25

25-New York Mets 19

26-Pittsburgh Pirates 27

27-Boston Red Sox 17

28-Chicago Cubs 28

29-Arizona Diamondbacks 29

30-Houston Astros 30

ON THE ROAD AGAIN:

Blue Jays' series in Boston are always interesting. This week was no exception. I flew down on Tuesday morning and on the Porter flight met a group that was headed there for a bachelor party for one of the guys about to get married. There is no doubt in my mind they were there to enjoy more than just baseball. No better choice for the baseball fan than an invasion of Fenway Park along with a couple of hundred other Jays supportes, mainly from the Maritimes. Ever since the switch back to Blue Jays blue jerseys and hats, Jays fans are much more visible when they cheer for their home team. Good move back to the brighter blue, away from black and silver and whatever else they tried.

Fenway Park is by-and-large a dump, but for anyone that has not been there to see a game, it should become a must-do. The bars and streets around the ballpark after a game are young and vibrant and the best thing about Canadian fans is that they assimilate nicely, chattimng with the local patrons and not sticking to themselves. Good ambassadors (albeit sometimes drunk) made better by the fact that their Jays won all three games. I watched the overtime of the Canadiens and the Rangers in a watering hole in Brookline, across the street from my hotel. It doesn't take an investigative team of reporters to quickly realize there is no goodwill or sympathy for the Habs in Boston, ever.

On Sunday night, my Oakville A's Juniors blew a 4-1 lead against Etobicoke to trail 5-4 going tpo the bottom of the eighth. We scored a run in the eight, then quickly won on a walkoff in the ninth, on a leadoff triple by CF Danny Beaver (Notre Dame College) and a single by Pat Griffin (College of St. Rose). The winner in relief was RH Troy Findlay (Notre Dame College). A's are 4-0 and in first.

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